2017 Advent Beer 6: Belching Beaver - Beavers Milk Stout Nitro

First of all, kudos to these brewers in Oceanside California for adopting Canada's national animal as their mascot; I was pretty surprised this Belching Beaver was an American Brewery.

I like milk stouts quite a bit, particularly La Vache Folle out of Quebec. These stouts add lactose to the traditional recipe of roasted malts and the rest, imparting a creamy sweetness to the taste and a smoothness to the mouthfeel.

For extra good measure, BB has bottled their Beavers Milk Stout with nitrogen, demanding an aggressive pour that necessitates completely inverting the bottle. Normally this is a great way to make a mess in the kitchen, so decanting in this fashion becomes almost an act of faith. I was willing to try it, but wanted documentation in case anything went wrong...

The pour went about as well as could be expected, and I truly believe that Guinness-style cascade is one of the prettiest things you can capture in a glass. And such a head! So thick, it made the entire sleeve look almost gelatinous.

There are aromas of roasted malts and chicory, maybe a hint of coffee as well. Time for a sip...

Oh my.

That is ridiculously smooth. Maybe the smoothest beer I've ever tasted. The mouthfeel is completely silky, helping to prompt a an empty glass far earlier than anticipated. In terms of taste, the chicory and coffee elements are there, along with the sweetness brought on by the lactose. It imbues the aftertaste with characteristics reminiscent of dulce de leche, the South American milk/caramel confection.

Like all stouts, Beaver's Milk Stout Nitro has a nice stick-to-your-ribs quality, but the 5.3% ABV probably wouldn't get you into too much trouble if you wanted another pint.

And for the record, I do want another pint of this!

2017 Advent Beer 5: Naparbier's Alien Klaw

At last, the inevitable return to hop country! Alien Klaw is labelled as a 'Belgian IPA' or India Pale Ale. IPAs are interesting (not least because most people think Alexander Keith's is one, when it is actually a lager), as additional hops were added as a preservatives to British ales shipped to India. The extra hops made them more bitter and citrusy than a standard ale, which undoubtedly felt quite refreshing during a hot, humid day on the subcontinent.

I was prepared to dismiss the Belgian style as marketing flim-flammery, but BeerAdvocate describes it as a recent innovation and style 'in development. So, Naparbier's attempt then incorporates Spanish, English, Belgian, and Indian elements, at least historically. Whew!

Alien Claw pours a cloudy, hazy yellow-gold, quite pleasant to gaze upon reflectively-or would have been, had the aggressive head formation not promoted some frantic slurping on my part. Once things had receded a bit, the first sips revealed the tangy, citrus notes you expect from a proper IPA, but the bitterness was smoothed out a bit by the higher alcohol sweetness (6.8%ABV). Sharp, tart, and smooth.

I'm by no means a serious hophead, but my respect for the style is sufficient for me to appreciate this spin on it, and I would absolutely try this beer again. Still not precisely sure what I am looking at on the label though.

2017 Advent Beer 4: Evil Twin Brewing's The Quads Are Not What They Seem

Dear Craft Beer Advent Calendar:

I am a big fan of your product and have enjoyed it every year for the past six. Thank you so much for improving the packaging and abandoning cans in favour of bottles. Since you have access to the December calendar every time you make one though, could you possibly see your way fit to keeping the high-test beers (8-11%) more aligned with the weekends? On Friday night I had a 5.1% beer, but on the first school night in December you throw a 10% Belgian quadrupel at me? That seems a tad unsporting to me.
Thank you for your consideration and for a stellar assortment of new beers every year!

Cheers,

Stephen

Now that the correspondence is out of the way, let's talk about tonight's offering: The Quads Are Not What They Seem, from Evil Twin Brewing. Evil Twin is a 'gypsy brewer' from Denmark who crafts his beers in other people's breweries, often in the U.S., under contract.

The strength of the beer should come as nor surprise, as 90% of Evil Twin's brews clock in at 10% ABV or greater, and besides, a high alcohol content is typical of this Belgian style.

I started this beer with a slice of pizza during a slightly rushed supper (Monday nights are often a bit mad around here with Glory's photography class running until 7:00, at which time I bring her dinner to her an she its it in the car on her way to dance; what a trooper!), but was able to savour the second half afterwards in more favourable conditions. Which is to say, in an abbey-style glass, ensconced in a recliner, in a quiet house, and with the dog on my lap. Darn near ideal, in many respects.

At 10% we are heading into barleywine territory, beers meant to be lingered over, like brandy. There is a brandy-like quality to the aroma and taste of TQANWTS, There are also strong caramel notes, at least to me, and elements of spiciness and biscuit.

Of course, being a big Twin Peaks fan, I can't help but appreciate the name, even as it reminds me that I am overdue to watch the third season, released this year after a two decade hiatus...

A holiday treat for the nose, palate and eye, pouring a deep, dark reddish amber which seems to enhance the richness of the beverage. A worthy addition to the calendar, as all Evil Twin offerings have been, even on a school night.

2017 Advent Beer 3: Saugatuck Brewing Cocanuck Stout

Good heavens, another sweet beer-it must be getting close to Christmas!

Day 3 brings us a Canadian beer with a tropical ingredient, brewed by our friends at Saugatuck Brewing in Michigan. Now, I consider myself a fan of Saugatuck, brewing as they do the delightfully surprising Blueberry Maple Stout from the Advent Calendar of two years ago, as well as the amazing Neapolitan Milk Stout, inheritor to the mantle left by the long-absent Neapolean and current emperor of dessert beers.

Now, I have no idea what prompted the Canadian content in this brilliantly punny name and label, coconut trees being anything but a native plant in our native land, but Cocanuck Stout is bold about its added ingredient. The coconut is evident right from the first sniff, yet almost subtle, or perhaps it just seems that way because most of us don't anticipate coconut in our dark beers (although it is not completely without precedent, as Brewsters was selling a Hawaiian Coconut Porter earlier this year as well).

Like the rest of Saugatuck's stouts and porters, this is a thick, dark, malty affair, and the chocolatey notes you expect from those roasted malts make a grand complement to the coconut, not unlike a Bounty bar.  And the coconut's naturally nutty bitterness comes through as well, offsetting the sweetness, but only a little.

Between the sweetness and the 7.5% ABV, I wouldn't be too prone to have two Cocanuck Stouts back to back, but as a liquid dessert, I see it being indispensable. Well, assuming you can find them outside of the calendar, that is.

I know it's unlikely, but I kind of hope there is another Saugatuck offering in this calendar. If not, well, there is always next year!

2017 Advent Beer 2: Nøgne Ø's Dubbel Advent

After Friday's tasty but undeniably pedestrian beer, this is more like it: a Belgian style strong ale, brewed in Norway, specifically for the Christmas season!

Partaken of by both Totty and myself during our now traditional December Second-World-War Aviation-Wargaming-and-Advent-Beer-Tasting event, Dubbel Advent pours a deep rich amber, and like most Belgian dubbels, carries a fruity sweetness to the nose along with the tangy yeast esters characteristic of the style.

The taste is far more malty than hoppy, as expected, and has all the breadiness I long for in dubbels (and bread, for that matter). There is a tart sweetness reminiscent of spiced apples that fits the season perfectly, undercut by a touch of bitterness more associated with coffee or baker's chocolate than hops.

And Øh bøy,  at 8.0%, it is a legit winter warmer, something else greatly appreciated in a Canadian December!

I've never had a disappointing beer from Nøgne Ø, and this excellent strong ale maintains their excellent reputation. I doubt I will find this one on its own, but would definitely pick up Dubbel Advent if I came across it again; a great beer to share with a friend on a cold winter evening. Gød jul indeed!

2017 Advent Beer 1: The Shipyard Export Ale

So, here it is the third day of December, and nary an Advent Beer post in sight! What's going one? Have I abandoned the way of the calendar? Have I taken ill, or perhaps leave of my senses.

Yeah, nah man, it's just been busy. Last Christmas was the same way and this one shows no signs of relenting, but I am participating in the Craft Beer Advent Calendar for the sixth consecutive year now.

Production of this formerly rare item has ramped up sufficiently that I no longer have to reserve one in the summer, and was able to wait until a suitable Air Miles promotion was in play before making my purchase.

Having said that though, I must confess that the temptation to skip on the blogging portion of the exercise was surprisingly strong this year. Things are busy, and I'm running out of adjectives for describing head! But when I pulled today's beer out of the carton and recognized the brewery from an earlier calendar, I realized there isn't a cat in hell's chance of my remembering all these ales and lagers a few years from now, mnemonic support is one of the primary reasons I keep a blog, so all two dozen advent beers will be logged here, never fear! But my tasting notes are going to be a bit more subdued for the most part; after all, for aficionados of minutiae, sites like Beer Advocate already exist.

Today's inaugural entry is a grand justification to this approach; The Shipyard Export Ale is a fine beer, an American blonde ale that is well balanced, presenting both malt and hops in an even-handed fashion.At 5.1% it is only marginally higher in alcohol than most other beers. A great beer to have in a pub, along with some hot, presumably fried food, an either engaged in feisty debate with one's friends or perhaps enjoying a sporting event.

But it doesn't distinguish itself in any meaningful way. 

If I was in Portland Maine, I would love the chance to try Shipyard Export on tap, but if not for this blog post (and a well-executed, classic label), I would probably forget about it before finishing this calendar.

That said, for a straightforward, no-nonsense, mainstream beer, it's a tasty one!

London Blitzpatrick

Last summer, I stumbled across an intriguing Kickstarter from The Plastic Soldier Co. in the U.K., proposing to remake TSR's well-received Battle of Britain boardgame from the 80s, but replacing the paper counters with small but detailed aircraft models.

Knowing Totty to be the biggest fan of Spitfires I know, I took pains to make him aware of the campaign, and he jumped on board right away. After a long a tortured production process, his kit finally arrived last week, and we got to play it last night.

Totty had upgraded to receive additional model planes, a much larger roll-up map designed for conventions and demos. Originally he was supposed to receive a set of what many consider to be the ultimate wargaming accessory: the pushy stick. Also know as rakes or croupier sticks, they are a fixture in many old war movies, as plotters move markers representing military units on map tables too big to reach across. Sadly there was an issue with the supplier, so PSC was unable to supply them. They are also planning to replace all the planes from the initial kits, as the plastic proved to be too soft, giving many of the aircraft warped wings or twisted tails.

By this point though, I found the idea of pushing fighters and bombers across a big map with only my hands, like some kind of caveman, actually disagreeable. So I set out to cobble together a set by myself.

A quick trip to Michael's for some doweling, a dip into the supply box for some bass wood, and a liberal application of both the Dremel tool and hot glue gun, and I had a reasonable facsimile in place.

DIY pushy sticks.

Totty was happy to see the sticks, and although they didn't work altogether well with the diamond-shaped bases of the aircraft, they were quite useful for moving counters and cards across the table during setup.

With a 3' x 5' mapboard to work with, there was just enough room for the two of us to set up our various flight displays, but once set up, it is a very good looking game, and it plays pretty well too.

Yes, THIS is what tabletop wargaming is meant to be!

The gameplay is quite a bit more random than I had expected. As the Luftwaffe player, I had a set of ten mission cards of which I needed to pick 7 to assign to my various flight groups. These could involve bombing a coastal radar station, destroying an airbase, or bombing a city. Once assigned, however, missions cannot be exchanged and targets of opportunity cannot be struck at. 

Likewise, the composition of each flight group is also random. 6 cards are drawn, each one representing one type of aircraft, so you get no say as to the initial mix of fighters and bombers in any given group. You need both, obviously, but when you need three successful hits on a city to complete the mission, but when you are only rolling 2 dice because the only aircraft to survive a savage intercept by the RAF is a couple of Ju-87 Stukas, well, your work is cut out for you, Jerry.

My 4' wide table is barely big enough to hold the enormity of this game!

Battle of Britain is more of a tactical than strategic game, since you only play 4 turns, but each turn begins with the RAF player choosing where to spend his precious air combat markers, as he has but 5 to spend. The turn ends with surviving Luftwaffe planes trying to destroy their targets and then determining if they have enough fuel to return home.

It's tremendous fun, and despite some missteps at the beginning as we navigated the rules, we finished our first game in around 3 hours. Although I'd heard some reviews saying that the victory conditions favoured the English, I managed to secure victory for The Hun; by the end of the game, Sheffield, Exeter, Preston, Coventry and even London were in flames. Totty's squadrons acquitted themselves pretty well though, and by destroying over a score of my aircraft, the final score was 38-28.

"Guten abend, Tommies!"

All in all, well paced and fun game to play, with almost precisely the right amount of detail and only the barest amount of logistics to impede scramble calls and death from the skies. I look forward to our inevitable rematch!